Book review: Joan Blondell - A Life Between Takes

[Midnight Palace]

http://www.midnightpalace.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=114

 

[Midnight Palace]

Currently reading to review:

 

[jazzzbaby]

http://www.midnightpalace.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=114

I am excited to read this book. I adore Joan Blondell, there was
something so 'contagious' about her personality & smile.

Just to read in your review about the horrible things put upon her by the men she met & married really puts a new spin as to if that bubbly personality was as real as I thought it might have been.

Thank You for the tip!

By the way....Have you read any of the bios on Kay Francis?

 

[Midnight Palace]

I haven't read any of the bios on Kay Francis........yet

As for Joan...I honestly felt bad for her as I read the book. She seemed like a genuinely good person that kept getting a raw deal. She was a real trooper though and never felt sorry for herself AT ALL! It really made me want to watch all of her films, now that I know the stories behind them. Jack Warner really pigeon-holed her into one kind of role and it's like he refused to let her break away from that image. I highly recommend the book, as you can tell from my review

 

[Fletch]

Joan’s second marriage to actor Dick Powell and third marriage to entrepreneur Mike Todd both ended with Joan citing mental cruelty. She never hated any of her husbands. To the contrary, she loved them until it nearly killed her.

FWIW, and sadly, there are women who seek out men likely to treat them this way. In that day no one understood there were any issues behind it. Especially since social gender roles got in the way - a woman's love was assumed to be pure and selfless, and a man who couldn't be domineering was less of a man.

 

[Amy Jeanne]

By the way....Have you read any of the bios on Kay Francis?

I've read Kay Francis: I Can't Wait To Be Forgotten by Scott O'Brien -- it's thin on bio and heavy on movie plot synopses. It wasn't terrible, but it can be a bit boring if you've already seen most of her film.

As for Joan Blondell, I do hope this bio is better than her autobiographical novel Center Door Fancy. She painted Dick Powell out to be very cheap and selfish in that book! She also referred to June Allyson as "a tramp in child's clothing!" I have to admit I only liked the last 1/4 of that book -- the rest of it was dull and somewhat poorly written.